The lovely Cookie and I are headed on vacation (attention would be burglars: the dog will stay at the house, and housesitting will be performed by Mike Minion, who owns at least two machetes that I am aware of). We leave tomorrow morning for Hawaii, which is where we met many years ago. Should be a pretty awesome vacation. While we’re gone, you will be in capable hands. I host quizzo tonight, then Mike Minion takes over for the rest of the week. Please be sure to make his life a living hell treat him with care and respect. Next week, the Sandman takes over for the week.

I will occasionally be updating the site during the trip, but not often. There is a question of the week this week but not next week. I’m trying to stay offline as much as possible. I haven’t decided yet on what I’ll do about winners pics. I’ll get them up when I can but won’t be in a huge hurry to do so (I’m on a freaking vacation to get away from you nerds, not to post your frikkin’ pictures on the internets!) Basically, expect the site to be run fairly loosely while I’m gone, but there will still be good quizzes. Vaughn and Mike are both experienced at this and both run a good quiz.

Also, I want to thank you guys for putting up with me the past few weeks. To afford a vacation I took on a 40-hour a week job for a few weeks in addition to quizzo and needless to say, as a man of leisure, such labors put me in a foul disposition. So sorry if I was a bit grumpy this past few weeks. Something tells me two weeks on a beach without a trivia question in sight should work wonders for company morale.

Also, I definitely want to thank everyone who came out to the City Tap House last night for the Invitational. We were bestowed with a beautiful night to be outdoors and were treated to some great music by the Toy Soldiers. Steak Em Up won, but everything else went well.

Alright, well I’ll be at quizzo tonight but by tomorrow night I will be drinking mai-tais while wearing ridiculous shirts and listening to steel drums. Aloha!

–Here’s my latest in the Philly Post, about SEPTA winning “Best large Transit System in North America” award. Please check it out.

-JGTSI is going down on August 12th at City Tap House at 6 p.m. We’re gonna do it outdoors if possible. More details next week.

-Things have been a little hectic lately, and I’ve probably been a little haggard at quizzo. (Even more so than usual). Well, I’m actually working full time at Comcast for a couple of weeks in addition to my normal quizzo duties. I know, I know, I’m an inspiration to you all. Anyways, I’m basically working on keeping this page updated all day, from 9-5. It’s a pretty good way to see what’s going on in the Olympics as they happen, and an excuse to watch a ton of Olympics.

As far as quizzes go, I want to thank Mike Minion, who has actually written the vast majority of the questions over the past two weeks, since I’ve had almost no time to write questions. As much as I am loathe to publicly acknowledge Minion, whose ego certainly doesn’t need the boost, he has been a huge help.

-I’m telling you, team handball is the best sport in the Olympics. Root for Iceland, who is trying to the first ever gold in the country’s history. Join the movement! (Which thus far consists of me, Trivia Art from Foobooz, and my buddy Gregg, who wrote this excellent article on why handball isn’t more popular in America.)

Here’s the latest from Timaree and I. We talk about how being anti-gay will affect Chik-Fil-A, and whether Olympic athletes should have sex before taking the field.

Continue reading “Let’s Talk About Sex in My Basement” →

Told you I’d get it up today. Finally! After 5 weeks, here are our scores (It includes the pool physical challenge but not the tank top one). Teams in Yellow would be eligible for bonus prize, teams in light green would earn an invite, and teams in blue are on the outside looking in. There are only two more weeks left! But worry not. There are plenty of more chances to get in the game. For one thing, there is a physical challenge posted now that could quickly earn your team 5 points. Basically, you just need to get a couple of physical challenges done and finish Top 3 in a couple more quizzes and you’ll be good to go. The Big Event will take place on August 12th. Details coming soon.

Here’s a few things on the web from me and some of our internet friends.

Here’s my latest in Philly Mag, where I talk to some local comedians about how they handle hecklers, and what they thought about the Daniel Tosh incident.

Timaree had quite a few things to write about Tosh on her always entertaining Sex with Timaree blog. I don’t agree with all of them, but they definitely opened my eyes to a lot of angles to this story I had not considered before.

In sports, I wrote a pretty cool piece about Frank “Home Run” Baker’s holdout in 1915, and how that 1915 A’s team compares to this year’s Phils. And here’s some very cool Shibe Park stuff, including a By Saam radio call of Dick Allen’s first game back at the Shibe. You think Phillie fans booed Jayson Werth? You should hear them go to town on Allen.

D-Mac had an entertaining piece in the Post this week about t-shirts on the Wildwood boardwalk.

 

 

 

I met Pat (in Stones shirt) when I first started dabbling in comedy in 2003. Very funny guy. Here he tells the story of a time when he had to take on the most intimidating guy in the room while doing comedy. Pretty brilliant way to disarm a tough guy.

Years ago, I was on a show at The Crazy Frog Saloon in Pottstown. There was this guy there who was relentlessly heckling every comic who came up. And this guy was scary. He was an ogre of a man with a long ponytail and a celtic cross tattoo that covered his whole face. He looked like an extra from Braveheart.

Finally it was my turn to take the stage and of course this guy started right in before I even had chance to start. I decided the only chance I had was to strike fast and strike hard. So I took the mic and immediately said “Surprise, surpise, the guy with the tattoo on his face is starved for attention!” The crowd roared and I didn’t hear another peep from him for the duration of my set.

But after the show he came up to me at the bar looking like he was ready to tear me limb from pudgy limb. Just when I thought it was curtains for me, he laughed, slapped me on the back and bought me a shot. I guess he liked my spunk.

Later I was talking to some friends from the area who had come out to see me and they told me they were concerned for my safety after I went at this guy, because he had supposedly been arrested the previous week for assaulting a Walmart cashier. If I hadn’t earned his respect things may have gone much differently.

First of all, the video above is one I did for Philly Mag. I talked with Timaree of the excellent blog Sexwithtimaree.com about why 50 Shades of Grey is awful in every conceivable way. It’s a fun interview, very short, so give it a look even if you don’t care about the book.

A few other things you might dig:

The best pics of the Phillies old home field, the Baker Bowl. Here’s Part 1 and here’s Part 2. Some really incredible pics on there.

Check out these proposals for Veteran Stadium, including a dome proposal that nearly happened.

And we’re up over 300 followers on facebook and 470 followers on twitter. Thanks to everyone who has followed, and hope some more Philly sports fans follow. We’re doing some cool stuff on there.

GroJLart (not his real name) is a regular at one of our quizzes, and his blog Philaphilia has quickly become one of the most popular in the city. And with good reason. With the impeccable taste of Inga Saffron but the anger of  Howard Beale, GroJLart slams any and everybody who has even torn down a historical building to put up a hideous piece of crap or, worse yet, a parking lot. And he rips selfish NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yarders) who oppose awesome design plans. But the site isn’t just unbridled fury. It’s also an incredible history of the architecture of our city, and he searches far and wide to provide awesome photographs of buildings no longer standing and designs for buildings that were never built. It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of history, so it comes as no surprise that this is one of my favorite blogs in the city. If you’re a fan of this city and a fan of history, it’ll be one of your favorites too. Below is an interview he did with WHYY. If you recognize him, great, but don’t let the cat out of the bag. He prefers to remain anonymous and let his work speak for him. (Of course, the video went down as soon as I posted this. Should be back up soon, so check back. It’s a great interview.)

(PS If you play my quizzo fairly regularly and are working on something creative, whether it’s a blog, stageplay, art exhibit, etc. please let me know about it. I can be contacted at johnny@johnnygoodtimes.com. I’d love to help plug it on here. Thanks!)

Watch Blogging about architecture on PBS. See more from Friday Arts.